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I.M.F. Relents on Aid to Russia, but U.S. Talks Tougher

The International Monetary Fund said today that it had agreed on ''a broad framework'' to resume financial aid to Russia, but American officials immediately warned that they would permit only enough support to keep Moscow from defaulting on international loans.

The vague accord, the first since Russia's economic meltdown last summer, followed a hastily arranged meeting in Moscow between Michel Camdessus, managing director of the fund, and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov of Russia. But only hours after Mr. Primakov's aides suggested that the I.M.F. would lend Russia more than $8 billion this year, the fund denied that Mr. Camdessus had discussed specific amounts.

Other officials suggested that Russia would receive only a few billion dollars this year. That would barely cover what Russia owes the I.M.F. this year, meaning that the aid may amount to a paper transfer that allows Moscow a grace period on repaying its loans.

American opposition to new loans to Russia reflects how deeply diplomatic and economic relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated in the last nine months.

Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, who helped engineer an I.M.F.-led, $17 billion emergency bailout for Russia last year, is now reluctant to provide more than token aid to the country. The July bailout failed in August, when Russia devalued its currency and then fired the team of economic reformers whom the United States was betting on to remake the Russian economy.

Since then, the I.M.F. and Mr. Primakov have been involved in an elaborate political and economic dance. Russia has refused to undertake many politically painful economic reforms, but still insists on a resumption of aid. An accord was expected last week, when Mr. Primakov was scheduled to arrive in Washington. But he ordered his plane to return home when he learned that NATO was planning to begin bombing Serbia.

Now, Russia's opposition to the NATO bombing and suggestions that Moscow might quietly resume military aid to President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia have greatly complicated the I.M.F. negotiations with Russia. That became clearer than ever today, when, only hours after Mr. Primakov declared that an I.M.F. deal was imminent, the Russian Defense Minister claimed that a Russian-made air defense system sold to the Yugoslav military was responsible for shooting down a United States F-117A stealth fighter on Saturday.

White House officials said today that they would open themselves up to Congressional attack if they approved a resumption of financial aid to Moscow at a moment when Russia was resuming aid to Mr. Milosevic. While the United States holds only 18 percent of the voting power on the board of the fund, as a practical matter it could veto an aid package. Today, White House officials went out of their way to make sure that Mr. Primakov understood that the two issues were closely linked.

''A U.S. judgment about an I.M.F. program,'' a senior Administration official said, ''would depend on Russian economic policy actions and could also be influenced by broader political developments,'' a clear reference to tangible Russian support for Mr. Milosevic.

Even before the situation in Kosovo strained relations with Moscow, the United States had been trying to limit the I.M.F.'s re-engagement with Moscow. American officials have told the fund that they would oppose offering what the Treasury refers to as ''new resources'' to Russia, meaning that any loans could be used only for repaying the fund or the World Bank. Under one possible arrangement under discussion, Russia would repay the fund and receive a check for roughly the same amount the next day -- a move that, in other contexts, is often referred to as ''check kiting.''

American officials have gone further, saying that by the end of the year they want to make sure that Russia pays more to the I.M.F. in 1999 than the I.M.F. pays Russia. But officials of the World Bank and the fund say they oppose that approach.

Mr. Camdessus was clearly seeking to mend fences in Moscow over the weekend. He made a whirlwind tour of the Russian political elite, meeting with parliamentary leaders and with directors of Gazprom, the giant Russian natural gas company, and even dining with the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexei II. He also talked on the telephone with President Boris N. Yeltsin.

Russia agreed to raise 60 billion rubles -- about $2.4 billion at current exchange rates -- in new revenues, partly by postponing a cut in its value-added tax. The fund protested when the Russian Duma approved the tax cut, noting that the value-added tax was one of the few taxes that Russia successfully collects.

The fund said Russia also agreed that its budget would run what is called a ''primary surplus'' of 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product, or roughly $3 billion. The term refers to a surplus before payments toward foreign debts. But how the Russians will achieve that surplus, one senior I.M.F. official said, ''is still a considerable mystery.''